I'm not a fan of religion in general, but you'd think that after 20 years of this sort of embarrassment they'd make meeting rooms more visible.

A confidential confession is done verbally, but the pedophilia is a visible action. So... glass booths, and meeting rooms with "one way" mirrors so things aren't being done so sub-rosa a priest can stick his dick in kids.

Oh, and subby, this guy has been in legal trouble over litigation for boy rape for more than a decade. This is probably the 20th time (a low end estimate) that a "breaking news" story on fark declares this to be "another" cover up.

wildcardjack:I'm not a fan of religion in general, but you'd think that after 20 years of this sort of embarrassment they'd make meeting rooms more visible.

There are a lot of churches that have taken steps to prevent child abuse. The Catholics just aren't one of them. In the wake of the Catholic Church scandal, my (Unitarian) church, implemented policies to ensure it never happened at our church, including criminal background checks of anyone who works with children (like Sunday School teachers), never allowing one adult to be alone with children, and special training for church leaders.

It's a real shame that the Catholics haven't decided to adopt similar policies that protect children from predators. How many children have to be hurt before they stop believing their own bullshiat that they have some sort of moral high ground and don't need the same failsafes as other organizations?

darwinpolice:They're not "rogue priests" if they have the complete backing of the most powerful representatives of the church in the entire country.

This.

Also... what happened to RICO? This guy should be being charged as an accessory in literally every criminal case resulting from molestation on his watch, minimum. Honestly my inclination would be to classify the diocese's Priesthood as a criminal organization given how widespread this was and just charge the Cardinals with every count in the first place.

Sudo_Make_Me_A_Sandwich:wildcardjack: I'm not a fan of religion in general, but you'd think that after 20 years of this sort of embarrassment they'd make meeting rooms more visible.

There are a lot of churches that have taken steps to prevent child abuse. The Catholics just aren't one of them. In the wake of the Catholic Church scandal, my (Unitarian) church, implemented policies to ensure it never happened at our church, including criminal background checks of anyone who works with children (like Sunday School teachers), never allowing one adult to be alone with children, and special training for church leaders.

It's a real shame that the Catholics haven't decided to adopt similar policies that protect children from predators. How many children have to be hurt before they stop believing their own bullshiat that they have some sort of moral high ground and don't need the same failsafes as other organizations?

i recently applied for a substitute teacher position at a catholic school (K-8). as part of the process i had to attend a class about child abuse. see VIRTUS

honestly i think it's sad that this screening process is necessary, but i understand why.

at the catholic church my parents attend, even ushers are required to take this class and they have to get a background check as well.

Insurgent:at the catholic church my parents attend, even ushers are required to take this class and they have to get a background check as well.

Yeah, individual Catholic institutions have taken steps, but the Catholic Church is one of the most impressively hierarchical institutions on Earth. The people sitting at the Vatican have remarkable power to make positive changes, and they have been inexcusably reluctant to do that.

Insurgent:i recently applied for a substitute teacher position at a catholic school (K-8). as part of the process i had to attend a class about child abuse. see VIRTUS

honestly i think it's sad that this screening process is necessary, but i understand why.

at the catholic church my parents attend, even ushers are required to take this class and they have to get a background check as well.

geometric poop, get yr shiat straight.

I don't really see how a "don't abuse children" class and a background check would have prevented any of the abuse or will prevent the inevitable future abuse. Clearly the priests already know it's wrong. And they didn't have criminal backgrounds. And the reason most of them never got criminal backgrounds was because the church hid documentation about the crimes.

And that is the critical part. And it hasn't changed. Benedict even now is fighting to keep documentation of priests' criminal activity under wraps. He had an army of lawyers go to Belgium to squash dirt from the police raid on the church headquarters. He fights tooth and nail to prevent dirt from around the world from hitting the press and attacks the press when they write about it.

So the church has made ineffectual motions while preserving the very behavior that historically promoted an environment where children were molested. Now, in the past, and in the future, the Church is a sick organization concerned more with its own public image than with the safety of the innocent.

Sudo_Make_Me_A_Sandwich:Insurgent: at the catholic church my parents attend, even ushers are required to take this class and they have to get a background check as well.

Yeah, individual Catholic institutions have taken steps, but the Catholic Church is one of the most impressively hierarchical institutions on Earth. The people sitting at the Vatican have remarkable power to make positive changes, and they have been inexcusably reluctant to do that.

definitely in agreement there. my hope is that the downfall of The Church will be ushered in by regular catholics. people that understand that institutionalized pedophilia is indefensible.

ultimately, people will realize that the threat of "Hell" is not necessary to be a Good Person. i know so many good, real people in The Church. what they don't realize is that religion is redundant if you're not an asshole.

Insurgent:Sudo_Make_Me_A_Sandwich: Insurgent: at the catholic church my parents attend, even ushers are required to take this class and they have to get a background check as well.

Yeah, individual Catholic institutions have taken steps, but the Catholic Church is one of the most impressively hierarchical institutions on Earth. The people sitting at the Vatican have remarkable power to make positive changes, and they have been inexcusably reluctant to do that.

definitely in agreement there. my hope is that the downfall of The Church will be ushered in by regular catholics. people that understand that institutionalized pedophilia is indefensible.

ultimately, people will realize that the threat of "Hell" is not necessary to be a Good Person. i know so many good, real people in The Church. what they don't realize is that religion is redundant if you're not an asshole.

Sudo_Make_Me_A_Sandwich:Insurgent: at the catholic church my parents attend, even ushers are required to take this class and they have to get a background check as well.

Yeah, individual Catholic institutions have taken steps, but the Catholic Church is one of the most impressively hierarchical institutions on Earth. The people sitting at the Vatican have remarkable power to make positive changes, and they have been inexcusably reluctant to do that.

helloit would require the church to ADMIT what they did. that they have been covering this shiat up for decades, if not centuries. Abusive assholes NEVER admit that they are criminals.

farkers need to be put on the terrorist organization listLOLsighI know ... as long as there are so many of them, we will never deal with this problem

ShadowLurker:Insurgent:i recently applied for a substitute teacher position at a catholic school (K-8). as part of the process i had to attend a class about child abuse. see VIRTUS

honestly i think it's sad that this screening process is necessary, but i understand why.

at the catholic church my parents attend, even ushers are required to take this class and they have to get a background check as well.

geometric poop, get yr shiat straight.

I don't really see how a "don't abuse children" class and a background check would have prevented any of the abuse or will prevent the inevitable future abuse. Clearly the priests already know it's wrong. And they didn't have criminal backgrounds. And the reason most of them never got criminal backgrounds was because the church hid documentation about the crimes.

And that is the critical part. And it hasn't changed. Benedict even now is fighting to keep documentation of priests' criminal activity under wraps. He had an army of lawyers go to Belgium to squash dirt from the police raid on the church headquarters. He fights tooth and nail to prevent dirt from around the world from hitting the press and attacks the press when they write about it.

So the church has made ineffectual motions while preserving the very behavior that historically promoted an environment where children were molested. Now, in the past, and in the future, the Church is a sick organization concerned more with its own public image than with the safety of the innocent.

you make some good points. that VIRTUS shiat i mentioned is basically an insurance company covering liability. the idea is to discourage pedos by making them take a class. i recall thinking, "wow, if i were an actual pedo i could learn some good strategies to avoid suspicion.

the classes are symbolic at best, and won't eliminate systematic cover-ups of child abuse.

AverageAmericanGuy:Insurgent: Sudo_Make_Me_A_Sandwich: Insurgent: at the catholic church my parents attend, even ushers are required to take this class and they have to get a background check as well.

Yeah, individual Catholic institutions have taken steps, but the Catholic Church is one of the most impressively hierarchical institutions on Earth. The people sitting at the Vatican have remarkable power to make positive changes, and they have been inexcusably reluctant to do that.

definitely in agreement there. my hope is that the downfall of The Church will be ushered in by regular catholics. people that understand that institutionalized pedophilia is indefensible.

ultimately, people will realize that the threat of "Hell" is not necessary to be a Good Person. i know so many good, real people in The Church. what they don't realize is that religion is redundant if you're not an asshole.

i'm rambling but i think you get the picture

A 'reformation', so to speak?

lol

used to be episcopalian. the priest (dunno if that's the correct term) was a lesbian. her partner attended every mass.

the real reformation will happen when religion ceases to exist and we all just treat each other as human beings.

Why do so many people turn to religion after having children or getting older? I always thought the older a person got, the less likely they were to believe in fairy tales?!

a child is a miracle from god. old people are afraid of death. it is quite simple.

not sure if that's sarcasm or not. But, i'll play along... why fear the inevitable?

you're asking the wrong person. fear of death, The Unknown, is a great incentive for religious folk. inevitable as it may be, most people don't want to die and it is comforting to know that Heaven awaits the deceased.

Well it's nice to have more info and attention, but we've known that about Mahoney for at least a decade. Last time the heat was really on was when he suddenly decided he was a huge supporter of illegal immigrant rights - and given the huge Latino population in his archdiocese, it worked, as planned. The man has always been a conniving, political scumbag. That's how you get to be archbishop, like any other high mucky muck in a big rich evil corporation.

Atheist friend of mine married a Catholic girl in a Catholic church in St. Louis last year. He jokingly asked her before the wedding if the priest had ever molested any kids. The response he got?"Not this one. The one before him was little girls, though. And the one before that was little boys".

Why do so many people turn to religion after having children or getting older? I always thought the older a person got, the less likely they were to believe in fairy tales?!

a child is a miracle from god. old people are afraid of death. it is quite simple.

not sure if that's sarcasm or not. But, i'll play along... why fear the inevitable?

Because people still want to avoid the inevitable, particularly religious people, who tend to have ambiguous feelings about the afterlife, particularly if they've cornholed children.

yet some of the hyper-religious seem more than willing to embrace death so they can "meet their maker" that much sooner... whether that be extremists/terrorists/fundies/culties/etc.

That actually was happening during the Middle Ages, so many were just looking for death that things started breaking down. I think this was around the 1000 AD mark so some end of the world stuff was probably tied in to it. And as an atheist I can see why people become religious, it gives them comfort in a world that will not. I can say that I know I'm going to die and am comfortable with that but if I can hold it off forever I'd be fine with that too. It's not stupidity, it's part of how human brains work. I think those of us who can push it away are the mutants, not the normals.